Household environmental knowledge and land-use decision-making in rural South Africa

Abstract Land planning is one aspect of sustainable development in rural areas where environmental, local, and cultural knowledge intersect. The study examines household environmental knowledge in land-use decision-making in two South African municipalities: Thulamela in Limpopo Province and Maluti-a-Phofung in the Free State Province. The research examines households’ attitudes toward using environmental knowledge to manage land and mitigate climate variability, soil degradation, and environmental change. Data were collected through a systematic questionnaire survey of sampled household members to determine the significance of education, residency, occupational status, land-use decisions, resource access, and land allocation. The municipalities were chosen based on their distinctive ecological. Descriptive and inferential analysis through Multiple regression, Pearson correlation, and two-way ANOVA of the data for assessing the interlinkage between land-use practice and household knowledge. It has been found that although household environmental knowledge is at the core of land-use choice, its practice is consistently plagued by inadequate institutional support, limited awareness, and limited inclusion in formal land management systems. Soil and climatic conditions were always thought to be at the core of land-use choice, invariably decided at the level of individual family heads and not collectively. The study reinforces the importance of household environmental knowledge and land use planning regimes in South Africa.